The Story of Hansel and Gretel
About The Story of Hansel and Gretel
A poor woodcutter comes home with stale bread and half a pitcher of milk. Gretel breaks the pitcher. Hansel takes her into the forest to pick berries and marks the path with bread. An ugly green witch watches them. They nibble a house roofed in gingersnaps, with a taffy chimney and frosted-cookie walls, and she invites them to a feast. She locks Hansel in a golden cage and tells Gretel they will bake him into a gingerbread boy. Gretel pretends she cannot test the oven, tricks the witch, and the witch's spell over the forest breaks. A white rabbit leads the children to a chest of gold, silver, and jewels, and they take it home.
Cast & crew
More about The Story of Hansel and Gretel
Ray Harryhausen animated the short on 16mm in his home studio, one of the fairy tales he made for elementary schools. Charlott Knight wrote the script. Hugh Douglas narrates. Current listings credit Bailey Films.
Themes
Making
The 16mm elements sat in the Harryhausen family garage for decades. On these school fairy tales he used replacement heads for facial expressions and covered the swap with a short dissolve.
Look
Harryhausen shot the puppets himself on 16mm in the home studio, full frame and in color.
Technique
Expressions come from replacement heads, with a dissolve hiding the change of face.
Music
Hugh Douglas narrates over music. No composer is named.
Preservation
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences restored the 16mm material. The Academy Film Archive preserved the short in 2004.
Notes
- He had been Willis O'Brien's assistant on Mighty Joe Young (1949).
- The witch's house has a gingersnap roof, a chimney of taffy blocks, and walls of frosted cookies.
- Hansel is locked in a golden cage, not an iron one, and the witch means to bake him as a gingerbread boy.
- The father does not abandon the children. They go into the woods for berries after Gretel spills the milk.
- It appears in the 1998 documentary The Harryhausen Chronicles.
- Harryhausen introduces the short on the Sparkhill DVD.
Scenes
- Gretel breaks the milk pitcher and the woodcutter asks what will become of them.
- The children nibble the gingersnap roof until the witch calls out.
- She jerks Hansel from the feast and locks him in a golden cage.
- A white rabbit shows them the chest of gold, silver, and jewels.
Influenced by
- The Brothers Grimm tale Hansel and Gretel
- Willis O'Brien's stop-motion, via Mighty Joe Young
Also available
- Sparkhill DVD Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection (2005)
Quotes
Nibble, nibble, little mouse, who is nibbling at my house?
